~ ! best sound with headphones ! ~
music composed by Carlo Domeniconi /
guitar : Frank Hiemenz /
recording director : Gernot Rödder (http://gernotroedder.de)
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recorded in Cologne, Germany (unfinished Studio Project '91)
Editing of the takes from a CompactCassette Copy by FHgitarre with WaveLab7 [2014]
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Listen to a short track with Carlo Domeniconi talking about the meaning behind this composition:
https://soundcloud.com/classicalguitaralive/carlo-domeniconi-on-koyunbaba
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It was during a festival in Mettmann (Germany), when I heard "Koyunbaba" the very first time. 25 years ago, played by David Russell. Excited and totally in it, I started to practise immediately. Then, I wrote a letter to Carlo Domeniconi, asking him for some background informations about this composition. And, only few days later, I got a handwritten letter from him! In two pages he described the different meanings of "Koyunbaba". A landscape in Turkey with a mysterious cliff. But also the name of a holy monk who lived there in the 15th century, of whom is claimed, that he still appears from time to time in this region...
Mainly, this music would be a strong experience of nature, he wrote. And I agree.
Funny, to read this letter today. Because-, obviously quite unaware of the enourmous success this piece should have only few years later in the guitar world-, Mr. Domeniconi wrote me, that he never heard "Koyunbaba" played by any guitarist apart from himself. Actually he seemed to be really surprised, that it was played at all...
During the following years, I played "Koyunbaba" during concerts, at festivals and in masterclasses so often, that I probably contributed a bit more than a little to the spreading of "Koyunbaba". At least I still would feel honored, if I did so.
Playing "Koyunbaba" in a concert always was a special, sometimes almost mystical experience in reaching some kind of increasing "active silence" of the audience. When I performed Koyunbaba as the final piece of my program I always tried to keep the silence between the last fading tone and the applause as long as possible. One time, I reached more than a whole minute and so my audience and I had the chance to listen together to the sound of silence. This was incredibly precious.

@stephan-beneking: Thank you very much, Stephan! The original recording was made in a really good studio on DAT tapes, many years ago. [That makes it a little bit less "unbelievable" I guess ;-) ]. As we did not do the final editing in those days I had to use a copy on cassette to transfer the takes on my PC to finish it. Because DAT players are hard to find nowadays

@hanklebury: thank you, I'm very glad that you like it ! Meanwhile there are a lot of interpretations of "Koyunbaba" to be found at youtube and here at SC as well. It's very interesting to compare the often very different interpretations of this music.

haha, just couldn't help but point out the true genius of the piece and the perfection of the playing ;) I have not studied this piece, no, but I love to analyze music. this was the First time listening to the piece and I am glad to have heard it played by Frank. he did a superb job. I do play, yes, but nowhere near as well. I have an early '30s monarch classical guitar and fell in love with the tone. when I had found Frank's music here, I fell even more in love with types of music that can be played via the classical guitar

@cookiepi: Nobody, and I stress NOBODY, enjoyed this song as much as you have! It was cool reading your comments. It revealed your love for and understanding of classical guitar. Did you study this and do you play?

This is an absolute stunning recording! A great composition, that includes passion and mystery is interpreted from an excellent artist with a wonderfull guitar sound! Outstanding production! Standing ovation!